Hop-picking machine



Jan. 2, 1951 P. E. GRISWOLD 2,536,927

HOP-PICKING MACHINE.

Filed Jan. 19, 1.946 2 Sheets-Sheet l PORTER E. GRISWOLD INVTOR ATTORNEYS a 1951 V L P. E. GRISWOLD 2,536,927

' HOP-PIYCKING MACHINE I Filed Jan. 19, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG 4 PORTER E. veRaswow' INVNTOR ATTORNEYS Patented jan. 2, 1951 UNITED S TATES PATENT OFF ICE HOP PICKING Porter E: Griswold; Yakima, Wash;

Apnlication lanuaryi 19, 1946;; Serial lid-642,249

This invention relates to a hop-picking machinechines requiring the-investment of inuchcapital" and'the use or excessive amounts of maintenance labor. In the-present stationary" machines'it customary to provide horizontal series of rotat drums having picking fingers thereon and'to mechanically draw the-vine over one such series and between tween-ch series whereby the vine is stripped; "Such an-operation,- left entirely tethemechanism, is without feel or judgment and usually results in the production oif'great' quantities of trash intermingled withthe hops. Of course, this haste be carefully separated there: from. Also, because it is connn'on to employ great numbers of these drums, each of which apz-- preximately' five hundred 'pi-eking fingers, there is always much maintenance and repair work reqni 'ed on 'prior'ma-chines because of the many Broken fingers that result during" adavsopera tien. In addition, such machines are too large an too expensive for the smaller growers to own or operate, because they are not economical- 1y operated unless run to full capacity t'l irough the whole picking season.

having these and otherwell kncwn defects of the prior artin mind, it'i's' an importantnbject oft-his inventionto provide a hop-picking machine which canbe manually fed and which is kinder the ho s and produces less trashin the stripped material.

Anotherobiectof this invention is the prevision of'a hop-picking machine which permits the obe'rator "to variation and progressively stri hops with -Jmidg'rnent in accordancewith conditions as" he encounters them when'the crop is brought from the fields, order that the minimum of foading is applied to the machine and its dix'ringth'e operation.

another object of the invention is to bro. vide, in machine as described, hop-flicking elements which willvariably accommodate the vines and-foliage 'fed'the'reto so that longer or; shorter picking periods can be had.

A further and more specificxdbject of the invention is the provision, in amach'ine of the type described, of a first and a second series of hoppicking elements disposed in a substantially horizpntal plane but with 'angtilar relation to each other, and both movable-towardand away from an intermediate upright'plane whereby the hop vines may be gravitationally delivered to the picking elements during initial pic'kingand, inxazre verse direction, be withdrawn therefrom" during final stripping stages" ofthe operation to insure even loading of h p ng elements and avoidzex; cessive' wear and pon" the equipment The foregoing objects and advantages of'th'ef invention and others ancillary: thereto I prefer to accomplish as follows:

According" to a preferred embodiment of the invention, I" provide an upright'framehousing within which is mounted" opposed pick'i'ngele ments to which, from above, the vinesarefed. It'is preferablethat" the picking elementsbe angularly disposed with relation to each "other so' that the operators may first feed the full and bushy vineto elementsspaced' relatively far apart; and" then move the vine and its appendages into more restricted areas between the'pi'ck'ing elements to complete the picking operation. Specifically, the picking elements comprise v shaped fingers mounted in series on bars carried by revolving drum heads that are mounted fortheap lication' of power. The'hops that have been stripped from the vines fall below the picking elements to" a eonv'eymg" and screening means" and t'hence pass to further mechanism for separat'ing the clusters that may have been stripped a sa bunch. the use of suitable separating mechanism andecn: vevi'ng' means the hops are moved through a winnow-cleaning process and finally to storage or driers;

The novel features"that I consider characterls+ tic of my invention areset forth with iparticul'ari Win the appended claims. Theinvention itself; however, both asto organization and its method (if-operation, together with additiona l obz j'ect's and advantages thereof will best'be'finderstood from the following descriptionofa specific embodiment when" read in connection With'the' accompanying drawings: in which Fig; 1' isanuprig'ht schematic'view of a mecha nism embodying my invention;

Fig; '2 is a cross-sectional view taken. on line 2- 2 of "Fig. '1'; v

Fig. '3 is'a plan view showing" the relative arrangem'ent ofth'e picked elements; and

Fig. 4 is a side elevationalschematic view of the machine of Fig; 1.

A 'hop'epicking' machine to overcome the, sefects h'ereinbeicre mentioned must have atleast two totally distinct characteristics; it must be capable of operation with a most simple con,

in a right-to-left direction as shown in Fig. 4.

One of the rollers, preferably roller 13, has power applied thereto in a conventional manner to cause movement of the belt as indicated. The

housing rises from closely adjacent the upper surface of the belt l2.

Picker lements mounted upon revoluble drums l8, l9 and 2B operate upon both sides of belt 52 to break and tear clusters of hops that may have been carried thereto by the belt. The hops fall through the interstices of the belt and are collected by conveyor belt 22 that passes around rollers 23 and 24 in the directions indicated by arrows in Figure 4.

Hops carried by conveyor 22 drop oil the end in a cascade that falls toward separator 23 through an air current induced by fan 28 and through its nozzle 30. At this point the hops are separated from the leaves and petals on a screening surface and drop onto the lateral conveyor belt 32 for disposal to storage or additional processing.

The screening surface or separator 26 fully shown in Figures 2 and 4, comprises the endless belt 36 formed of wire mesh of a size in the range of A" to A" to the openings of the belt. The belt is carried by upper and lower link belts 3S and 39, respectively, which travel on, and are moved by, sprockets as 6% and d! on shafts A2. The shafts s2 are mounted in suitable bearings and empowered all in a conventional manner to produce continuous movement of the belt 33 in an-inclined plane substantially as shown. Between the fiights of belt 3% is mounted, means of bracket 4' 3, a deflector blade or plate :6, which functions as a petal-saver and gathers and directs the petals which escape through belt 35 downward toward the conveyor belt 32 where they are deposited.

As I have mentioned before, the arrangement of the picking elements is an important part of this invention because it simplifies and facilitates both picking and the operation of the machine. Th preferred form of these elements is to provide an endless series of picking fingers as is embodied in a picking drum although there are other forms that are equally useful. Within housing It I mount for revolution the rollers or drums 5i] and 52 in an angular relationship.

as shown in Figures 1 and 3, so that their respective axes are non-parallel. The drums are each provided with longitudinally extending rows of V-shaped picking fingers of conventional form well -known in this art. Circumferentially of the drums, the fingers 55 form an endless series of picking elements as the drums are revolved. At one end the drums are positioned close enough together so that the fingers will just about touch during operation, butat the other end the drums are separated to a greater extent.

'Thus, between the drums there is a V-shaped space 14 into which the vine is fed for stripping.

I have found it advisable to speed the operation to include a second pair of drums 5| and 53 between the drums of a pair.

4 below the others, as can be seen in the drawings. The drums 52, 53 are turned by means such as motor 60 from which power is transmitted through the instrumentality of belts Bi and 62 and the sheaves 63, 6Q, 65 and 66. Drums 5!! and 52 are similarly driven.

Each upper or lower pair of drums is driven so that the fingers 56 or other pickin elements are carried in a circular path that is opposite for each drum. The two paths tend to approach, from the top downward, a common plane that is upright therebet-ween. This is indicated in Figure 1 by suitably placed arrows on the ends of the drums.

Above the drums is a platform 10 having an opening 12 that lies longitudinal of the space 14 An operator standing on this platform manually lowers a vine-end through the opening and into space M. At the beginning of the operation, when the vine is full and bushy with hops and leaves, he does so at the wider end of space '14. As the fingers 56 strip the hops from the stems and arms of the vine the operator works the vine up and down and progressively moves it into the narrower portions of the V-space it. In this manner, as the vine reduces in size due to the removal of hops therefrom, it can at all times be kept in contact with the rapidly rotating picking fingers. When the vine has been fully stripped it is raised by the operator and cast aside. I

Such hops as are picked from the vine fall below the drurcs onto and through the meshes of belt I2. If there be clusters deposited upon belt I2 they are carried to picker drums l8, l9 and 29 where they are torn apart and then delivered to conveyor 22.

Such material as is delivered to the screen belt 26 falls through the air from fan 28 onto belt 32. The air currents are usually such that the round and fairly solid hops fall straight down, with but slight contact with belt 28, but the leaves and petals are blown toward the belt. The leaves are held to the moving belt by the air currents and, as they turn the end around sprockets 43, 4!, are permitted to fall away and be collected for disposal. The petals pass. through the belt and are deflected toward belt conveyor 32.

During vine stripping the operator at all time has both visual and physical contact with the stripping operation and can, thereby, more or less control the manner in which the picking elements have material delivered thereto. If

the vines are excessively full and bushy theywill be picked longer in the wider portions of picking area 14 and then be moved slowly into the more restricted areas. If lean vinesare being brought to the machine the picker may more quickly move into the more restricted areas and thus shorten the time such a vine is in the machine. picking over that performed by machines where the vine must move through a constant and un-- variable path for a fixed and predetermined time period.

While I have shown and described particular embodiments of my invention, it will occur to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention, and I, therefore, aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit This materially increases efficiency of the narrower portions of the zone for the performance of the picking operation; means supporting said picking drums in said relationship; and means for rotating said picking drums oppositely so that the paths of travel of the rows of fingers of each drum pass said picking zone from above downward.

2. In a hop-picking machine, first and second picking devices, each having an endless seriesof V-shaped picking fingers thereon; said picking devices being disposed side-by-side with their respective rows of picking fingers in progressive 1y greater spaced-apart relationship to each other in a manner that defines an open-end, unobstructed, horizontally tapered picking zone when viewed from above in which hop vines, being picked, may be suspended and moved from the wider to the narrower portions of said zone for the performance of the picking operation; means supporting said picking devices in said relationship; and means for actuating said devices so that the rows of picking fingers of each of said devices travel in paths that pass said picking zone from above downward.

3. In a hop-picking machine, first and second picking devices, each having an endless series of rows of V-shaped hop-engaging elements thereon; said picking devices being disposed side-byside with their respective rows of picking fingers in progressively greater spaced-apart relationship to each other in a manner that defines an open-end, unobstructed, horizontally tapered picking zone when viewed from above in which hop vines, being picked, may be suspended and 'moved from the wider to the narrower portions of the zone for the performance of the picking operation; means supporting said picking devices in said relationship; and means for actuating said devices so that the rows of V-shaped picking elements of each of said devices travel in paths that pass said picking zone from above downward.

PORTER E. GRISWOLD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 120,680 Whitney et a1. Nov. '7, 1871 451,063 Miller Apr. 28, 1891 503,190 Beardsle Aug. 15, 1893 526,594 Weatherbee Sept. 25, 1894 541,431 Easton June 18, 1895 595,041 Butler Dec. 7, 1897 925,983 Benthall June 22, 1909 1,008,914 Horst Nov. 14, 1911 1,054,119 Horst Feb. 25, 1913 1,615,981 James Feb. 1, 1927 2,114,727 'I'hys Apr. 19, 1938 2,138,529 Thys Nov. 29, 1938 2,139,029 Miller Dec. 6, 1938 2,226,206 McConnel et al Dec. 24, 1940 2,252,159 Blank Aug. 12, 1941 2,336,280 Miller Dec. '7, 1943 

